Green Tara retreat

The Abbey’s annual one-week retreat offers a chance to deepen your practice in supportive community. Join us this year for meditation on Green Tara, embodiment of the enlightening influence of all the Buddhas.

For centuries practitioners have turned to Tara—a feminine embodiment of enlightenment—for protection from both internal and external dangers, ranging from fire to anger and ignorance. The main purpose for practicing Tara meditation is to free us from all sufferings and their causes and bring us to liberation and awakening.

The retreat will include teachings with Venerable Chodron as well as several daily practice sessions. We will hold noble silence.

While this retreat is suitable for newcomers as well as experienced practitioners, some meditation experience is helpful. If you’re unfamiliar with the practice, it’s good to study Venerable Chodron’s book, How to Free Your Mind: Tara the Liberator.

A dana offering and registration form are requested to reserve your place for the retreat.

Arrive by 3:00 on Friday. Retreat begins with a live-streamed Lamrim teaching that begins promptly at 5:55. Retreat ends after 2:00 the following Friday.

About Venerable Thubten Damchö

Ven. Damcho (Ruby Xuequn Pan) met the Dharma through the Buddhist Students’ Group at Princeton University. After graduating in 2006, she returned to Singapore and took refuge at Kong Meng San Phor Kark See (KMSPKS) Monastery in 2007, where she served as a Sunday School teacher. Struck by the aspiration to ordain, she attended a novitiate retreat in the Theravada tradition in 2007, and attended an 8-Precepts retreat in Bodhgaya and a Nyung Ne retreat in Kathmandu in 2008.
Inspired after meeting Ven. Chodron in Singapore in 2008 and attending the one-month course at Kopan Monastery in 2009, Ven. Damcho visited Sravasti Abbey for 2 weeks in 2010. She was shocked to discover that monastics did not live in blissful retreat, but worked extremely hard! Confused about her aspirations, she took refuge in her job in the Singapore civil service, where she served as a high school English teacher and a public policy analyst.
Offering service as Ven. Chodron’s attendant in Indonesia in 2012 was a wake-up call. After attending the Exploring Monastic Life Program, Ven. Damcho quickly moved to the Abbey to train as an Anagarika in December 2012. She ordained on October 2, 2013 and is the Abbey’s current video manager. Ven. Damcho also manages Ven. Chodron’s schedule and website, helps with editing and publicity for Venerable’s books, and supports the care of the forest and vegetable garden.